Kevin Spacey during the Governor of Maryland's tour of the House of Cards set
Photo Credit: Jay Baker
Source: Flickr

Anthony Rapp, an ex-Broadway actor best known for his appearance in the production of “Rent” came forward in an interview with Buzzfeed News and alleged that Kevin Spacey “tried to get with him sexually” after a party at Spacey’s apartment in 1986 and Rapp was 14-years-old. Rapp says that Spacey picked him up “like a groom picks up a bride” and then tried to lay down on top of him. In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that has been rocking Hollywood for weeks, Spacey is only the latest high-profile domino to fall, following the head of Amazon’s Video division, Roy Price’s unceremonious exit from Amazon after his own scandal.

Spacey used his apology to Rapp to both deflect from what he recollected as “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior” and to incredibly awkwardly “come-out” publicly, saying that he will live the rest of his life as a gay man. Aside from being a ridiculously absurd time to center himself and his own sexuality, as other voices have noted, this is a dangerous conflation that muddies the waters and positions LGBTQ+ persons as a latent danger.

Netflix, which had been using Spacey as the enigmatic and diabolical Frank Underwood in its wildly popular House of Cards series, has decided to pull the show at the conclusion of Season 6, according to Deadline. Still, this continues the theme of powerful men in Hollywood allowed to continue on their paths of destructive, predatory behavior; unchecked for decades after they initially use their power, their privilege, and positions to take advantage of vulnerable people.